marble

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A hard, smooth stone, often white or patterned, used in buildings and statues.

   The grand hall had a floor of polished white marble.

2. 2
   verb

   To give something a streaked, swirled pattern like marble.

   She marbled the paper using paint floating on water.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Marble came through Old French marbre and Latin from Greek marmaros, a word of uncertain origin. It was popularly associated with Greek words meaning “flashing,” “gleaming,” or “to sparkle.” The small game balls have been called marbles since the late 17th century because they could formerly be made from the stone.

Inherited from Middle English marble, marbre; from Anglo-Norman and Old French marbre, from Latin marmor, from Ancient Greek μάρμαρος (mármaros), perhaps related to μαρμάρεος (marmáreos, “gleaming”). The forms from French displaced Old English marma, which had previously been borrowed from Latin.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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